Duchovny Returns To X-Files
avid Duchovny will reprise the role of FBI Agent Fox Mulder in the upcoming two-hour finale of The X-Files, which is slated to air at 8 p.m. May 19, the official Web site reported.
Duchovny, who left the series at the end of last season, will also direct the episode that is scheduled to air April 28, based on a story idea he co-wrote with series creator and executive producer Chris Carter and executive producer Frank Spotnitz, the site reported. Mulder will not appear in that episode.
As the series winds to an end, the final five episodes will begin to answer many of the show's most-asked questions, culminating in the finale, in which Mulder is reunited with Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), the site reported. The final episodes will also readdress the show's long-running mythology. Carter will write the finale, which will be directed by co-executive producer Kim Manners. The X-Files airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Potter Hits Milestone
arner Brothers announced that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has become the second-highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing Star Wars: Episode I.
The combined domestic and international box-office take for Harry Potter has reached $926.1 million, eclipsing Episode I's $922.8 million, the studio said.
In other box-office news, the only genre release in the weekend top 10 was Disney's animated sequel Return to Neverland, which opened Feb. 15 and took in about $11.8 million, the Hollywood trade papers reported. Rollerball, which opened last weekend, fell out of the top 10 and has taken in only $16 million after 11 days; the film reportedly cost $85 million to make.
Roswell Sets Struck?
ajandra Delfino, who plays Maria in UPN's teen-alien series Roswell, told fans on her official Web site that the network has ordered the show's sets to be dismantled, a sign that the series is headed for cancellation.
Roswell is slated to wrap production on its current season, the show's third, in March.
"News is [that] UPN has ordered the sets to be struck (that means to be torn apart)," Delfino wrote on her site. "Bahhhd sign for you Roswell lovers. So I may be out of a job—oh well, on to the next. Those 14-hour days for nine months straight did get a little taxing, so I'm looking forward to taking it easy."
Delfino added that she's looking forward to leaving a gig that she described as becoming more of a job than a joy. "Gotta tell ya it's gonna be nice not having to wear that Maria clothing and that Maria face all the time," she wrote. "Whew. She was just so different from me, it became a little frustrating after a while, and one starts to feel robbed of their own personality and persona. Time for a little Majandra yo. Heh. Well let's see about that, now without someone writing those lines that pleased some so much." Roswell airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. PT/ET.
Complete B5 DVDs Coming?
arner Brothers will release the entire Babylon 5 series on DVD, the b5lr Web site reported.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that the decision follows the successful December 2001 release of the first B5 DVD.
The site had no information on the timing or format of future B5 releases.
Matrix Reloaded Site Is Up
ilmmakers have updated the Matrix Web site with new content for the upcoming Matrix Reloaded sequel.
Visitors to the site must go to the Hack the Matrix portion of the elaborate site, click on the keyboard to see the "Enter the Code" window, then enter the code "reload" to access the new content.
Initial content includes interviews with crew members, images from the production of the sequel and QuickTime VR movies of the interior of the Nebuchadnezzar. The Matrix Reloaded is currently in production for release in 2003.
Townsend Hung Well In Damned
tuart Townsend, who plays the vampire Lestat in the upcoming Queen of the Damned movie, told SCI FI Wire that he was nervous about doing the high-wire stunt work required for the film's rock-concert sequence.
"It was a stuntman up there on these two little wires attached to his waist, and they said, 'Are you scared of heights?' And I said no, which is a lie," Townsend said in an interview while promoting the film. "He didn't look that high, you know, from my perspective. He just looked like he was up there. And then they pulled me up, and it was nine stories high. If there wasn't 3,000 people watching I would have been like, 'Take me down!'"
Queen of the Damned encompasses the events of the last two books in the Vampire Chronicles series by Anne Rice. Townsend's character becomes a world-famous rock star when he rises from his crypt in the 21st century. To shoot the film's big concert scene, the filmmakers filled an amphitheater on location in Melbourne, Australia, for one long night. "We had 3,000 people come in," Townsend said. "They weren't paid. They were just told to dress in black, [were] fed hot dogs and given a T-shirt. We had DJs and stuff. It was an amazing night." How did Townsend survive the arduous shoot? With the help of some liquid courage, he admitted. "I got on stage, and I was tanked up on a bottle of tequila with a few of my mates from Ireland who were there," he said with a laugh. "So we sat in my trailer for a few hours and just got wasted. It was the only thing to do." Queen of the Damned opens Feb. 22.
Dinotopia Unveils Wonders
ichael McGee, visual effects supervisor for ABC's upcoming Dinotopia miniseries, told SCI FI Wire that he and his crew devised new technology to create never-before-seen images of humans riding dinosaurs and other wonders.
The goal was to create a world in which dinosaurs and humans interact, as in the James Gurney series of books on which the miniseries is based.
McGee and his team devised a "motion rig"—a saddle mounted on the back of a dinosaur torso—on which actors could ride. The rig in turn was driven by computer animation of a dinosaur in such a way that the rig's movements would mirror those of the animation, McGee said in an interview. "We'd go out, we'd shoot a background plate," McGee said. "If there was a crowd watching, we'd shoot all of the people looking at the imaginary space where this creature's moving. We then [input] that background into the computer. ... Then [we'd] rough out an animation into that sequence. ... We would then translate that animation into data that was fed into the motion rig, go into a blue-screen studio, and then film the actor sitting on the rig. ... Because [the rig] had to be bolted to the floor, ... that meant that any perspective change on the person, we had to create in camera. So to do that, we linked up a motion-control camera that would actually move around the motion rig, and the motion-control camera and the motion rig were both driven by the [computer animation]."
McGee added that shooting the scenes was complicated for the actors, because quite often they were delivering dialogue while sitting atop the noisy hydraulic rig with a very short cue time in which to act. "The blue-screen shoot alone for the motion rig material, I think we did five weeks of motion rig ... shooting alone," he said. "That was quite innovative. I think that was probably the most innovative thing we did." Viewers will be able to judge the results when ABC airs the first installment of Dinotopia, the epic story of a lost continent where dinosaurs and humans live together, at 7 p.m. ET/PT May 12.
Perry Likes Jeremiah Edgy
uke Perry, who plays the title role in Showtime's upcoming SF series Jeremiah, told SCI FI Wire that the show will push the limits of cable television's standards.
The two-hour pilot features, among other things, female nudity, four-letter words, violence, torture and sexual situations. But just wait, Perry said in an interview at a special screening and premiere of the show in Los Angeles on Feb. 21.
"In comparison with the stuff we're doing, the pilot's pretty tame," Perry said. The show is currently filming episode 14 out of 20 in Vancouver, B.C. "Some of the action and the sexual quotient of things, the pilot seems a bit tame by comparison. Having said that, they purposely made this one a little tame, I think. I'm not exactly sure why. We shot a much edgier, riskier show than what I saw tonight. I don't know if you guys know Russell Mulcahy [Highlander], the director, but he's nuts. And visually, there were more effects in terms of the ramping of the film, the dynamic in terms of that. They took out a lot of violence. They took out a lot of sex."
Perry added, "Which, you know, for me, I want it! It's cable. I want that stuff. But the story still holds up, and the characters, you know, I like that. I was so glad to see that the stuff between [co-star] Malcolm [-Jamal Warner] and me was solid."
The series, from Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, tells the story of a dystopian future in which the survivors of a plague scrabble to survive. Jeremiah debuts with a two-hour pilot at 8 p.m. ET/PT on March 3 before moving to its regular Friday timeslot on March 8.
It's Jeremiah 90210
n episode in Showtime's upcoming SF series Jeremiah will reunite two alumni of Beverly Hills, 90210: Luke Perry, who stars as Jeremiah, and Jason Priestley, who will guest-star as a villainous madman, SCI FI Wire has learned.
Jeremiah co-star Malcolm-Jamal Warner revealed the casting coup in an interview at a special screening and premiere of the show in Los Angeles on Feb. 21.
"Jason Priestley actually comes in and does what's probably my favorite episode," Warner told SCI FI Wire. "He plays this ... badass, crazy cat who's taken over this military base, and he's just bombing towns just for the f-ck of it. It's crazy. ... Luke and I, because we do it on a weekly basis, I guess I'm used to him. But when we're doing this episode with Jason, and I'm just laughing to myself, like, 'Wow, this is the 90210 guy, and he's f-cking great.' I mean, his character is a maniac." Michael Rooker (The 6th Day) will also guest-star in a subsequent episode, Warner added.
Perry stars in the series, from Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, about a dystopian future in which the survivors of a plague scrabble to survive; Warner plays Perry's sidekick, Kurdy. "I'm not a sci-fi watcher," Warner said. "I'm not the sci-fi cat. But this show, even seeing it all put together, it doesn't feel sci-fi to me. As a guy who's not a sci-fi watcher, I equate sci-fi with half-human, half-android, you know, outer-space kind of characters. And I think because this show is set so much in the realm of reality, it feels a little more realistic to me than what I would normally think of as sci-fi shows." Jeremiah debuts with a two-hour pilot at 8 p.m. ET/PT on March 3 before moving to its regular Friday timeslot on March 8.
Connery Signs For Gentlemen
ean Connery has signed to star in the upcoming movie version of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
As rumored, Connery will play British novelist H. Rider Haggard's character Allan Quatermain in the film adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel. It is understood that Connery's deal includes sequel commitments, the trade paper reported.
Steve Norrington will direct League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from a script by James Robinson. Shooting is scheduled to start in the summer, with a budget in the $80 million range, the trade paper reported. The comic, set in the Victorian era, unites several fictional characters, including Capt. Nemo, Dr. Jekyll, Quatermain and Mina Harker, in the service of Queen Victoria.
More Gentlemen Added?
he IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film will feature two characters not drawn from Alan Moore's graphic novel of the same name, on which the movie is based.
The movie will reportedly feature Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, the site reported.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that filmmakers wanted to include Sawyer—an American—as a police detective, based on the idea that the character from Twain's book Tom Sawyer, Detective would grow up to become a cop. Gray is drawn from Wilde's 1890 book The Picture of Dorian Gray, about a man who defies the aging process with the help of a supernatural painting.
Marvel Mulls The End
arvel Comics is considering a series of comic stories that would imagine the final installment of several of their most popular franchises, Cinescape Online reported.
Peter David and Dale Keown are already working on The Last Hulk Story, the site reported.
"There is no timeline with these stories, because the stories are really creator-specific," Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada told Cinescape. "The reason the Peter David Hulk story works so well is because he and Dale have a particular tie to that character, so it makes perfect sense. We will do these stories, and they're always on the table, but it really depends on the creators that want to come over and do them. For example, I think I'd like to see Chris Claremont do The Last X-Men Story. But again, it doesn't take much imagination to try to figure out which creators would work in these kinds of scenarios. So it's definitely something that's always there and ready to go, but there's no real timeline on how many and when."
Gibson Reads The Signs
el Gibson, who stars in M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming thriller film Signs, told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cindy Pearlman that the movie isn't like the director's earlier The Sixth Sense.
"Look, I don't see dead people. That's all I'm saying," Gibson told the columnist. "I am an Episcopalian minister who sees something in his crops in rural Pennsylvania. It takes place in my field, my farmhouse and in town."
Gibson added that the film won't necessarily feature Shyamalan's trademark surprise ending, as did Sense and the more recent Unbreakable. "The ending is not a shocker, but it wraps it up and makes sense," Gibson said. "Let's just say it's not like David Lynch time at all, where you don't know what the hell is happening. I hate that stuff." Signs will open in August.
Episode II Posters Pilfered?
he Force.net Web site reported a rumor that a California theater chain has warned employees not to pilfer promotional materials for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones or risk bookings for the prequel movie.
Citing an internal memo for the unnamed theater chain, the site reported that Lucasfilm and Fox are unhappy with the lack of posters and other promotional displays in theaters, which they fear are being kept by theater managers for their collectible status.
Fox has reportedly been sending checkers into theaters to make sure that such promotional items are being displayed. "Fox ... has stated that theater chains not properly displaying promotional materials will have their bookings affected for the forthcoming Attack of the Clones," the purported memo said. "Theater chains not displaying promotional materials may not receive, or only receive a limited amount of, prints (copies) of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones." Episode II opens May 16.
Shatner Mystified By Trek
tar Trek's William Shatner told CNN's Larry King Live that he's still mystified by the enduring appeal of the SF franchise.
"Everybody watches it for a different reason," Shatner told King. "There was science fiction, there was adventure, there was philosophy. There were the family of characters that they fell in love with."
Shatner added, "And yet, cancel that family of characters and bring in another family of characters, and you've got another hit series called Star Trek, so I don't know." Shatner was promoting his new video, Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime, in which he and Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy talk candidly about the show and its effect on their lives.
Shatner Opens Up About Loss
tar Trek star William Shatner told TV Guide Online that he was so devastated by the death of his third wife, Nerine, that he contemplated ending his own life.
The 71-year-old actor found Nerine at the bottom of their swimming pool on Aug. 9, 1999, the site reported.
"I came from the depths of despair," Shatner told TV Guide. "I came from a strong feeling that life was not really good enough to stay with it. I would have been happy to die. I may very well have been thinking of, contemplating ways to help that along."
Law To Take On Holmes?
he Calgary Sun reported a rumor that Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) is being wooed to play Sherlock Holmes in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula.
The film has the famous fictional detective becoming a target of the vampire after joining forces with Prof. Van Helsing, the newspaper reported.
Previous reports suggest that Law is also being courted to star in a new version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, currently called Diary of a Young London Physician, the newspaper reported.
Destination II Picks Up Thread
raig Perry, producer of the upcoming supernatural film Final Destination II, told the 13th Street Web site that the sequel will intersect with the original movie.
"The most intriguing, yet vague, version to preserve the fun of the movie would be a bunch of people meet because of a traffic accident due to a premonition by a freshman in college," Perry told the site. "What transpires is a rush to save the life of an unborn child with the help of Clear Rivers, [played by] Ali Larter from the first movie. The current movie and the events of the first movie unexpectedly coincide and intertwine to create a bunch of very interesting surprises and revelations about Death and its plans on Earth."
Perry added, "We like to think it's a clever expansion on the mythology of the first one. It expands outward from the initial thesis in a provocative way. The second movie really could exist on its own. What I like about what the writers, Eric Bress and John Gruber, is that they've created a very straight-ahead storyline that, at a very relatively early juncture, suddenly the first movie smashes right into it. Then they start spinning together and oscillating around one another, and you start realizing the connections between the first and second movie that become apparent. The [writers] use that information to go and do lots of clever, fun, and exciting—hopefully exciting—things." Final Destination II began shooting in Vancouver this week.
UPN Enters The Zone
PN has ordered a pilot for a new version of the classic SF TV series The Twilight Zone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
UPN's sister network, CBS, aired the original anthology series from 1959-'65. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Pen Densham is writing and executive producing the new project, which his New Line-based Trilogy Entertainment Group is producing, the trade paper reported.
Rod Serling created the original series. An earlier update of the series aired from 1985-'88.
F/X House Wins Daredevil
ffects house Rhythm & Hues (Cats & Dogs) will create all of the visual effects for the upcoming feature-film version of Marvel Comics' Daredevil series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
R&H bested four other computer-graphics facilities for the coveted contract, the trade paper reported.
Richard Hollander, president of R&H's feature-film division, will lead the crew in handling more than 300 shots, including a digital double of the lead character, Daredevil/Matt Murdock, who will be played by Ben Affleck, the trade paper reported.
The film will reportedly differ from Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie, which is also based on a beloved Marvel franchise. Daredevil is expected to be grittier and more realistic, the trade paper reported. The film begins shooting March 25 in Los Angeles and is set for release in mid-January 2003.
Del Toro Heralds Hellboy
uillermo del Toro told SCI FI Wire that he's eager to make a big-screen version of the Hellboy comic series his next project.
"Hellboy is probably the last comic over the past 15 years that I was actually in awe of the character and in awe of the visual universe that was created to sustain it," del Toro said in an interview. "I look forward to every new Hellboy story as much as I was waiting with bated breath, for example, as a child for the next Swamp Thing comic by [artist] Bernie Wrightson, even though he did so few of them."
Del Toro—the director of Cronos, Mimic and Blade II, due for a March 22 release—added, "Having that occur to you when you're more than 30 years old, not only is it sad about your mental state, but it's also incredibly liberating creatively. I have a duty to myself and [to] the character not to allow Hellboy to be f--ked up in the translation into a movie by someone who doesn't care. I want it to be exactly the comic book. This is my ambition,
and I will leave my body there on the ground to make it happen, but I want Hellboy to be the best goddamn comic book-based movie ever made. Ever. I don't care what comes this year, if it's Spider-Man or whatever. It will be
the best comic book movie ever made."
As far as casting, del Toro reported that "Ron Perlman or nobody" will assume the title role. Perlman, the Beast in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, co-starred in the director's breakthrough film, Cronos. "We have toyed with other ideas, which were good, like Vin Diesel, but the whole project was written by me with Ron in mind," del Toro said. "Undoubtedly I would [get a bigger budget if Diesel were cast], and I think Vin would be a great alternative. I think Vin was also born to play Hellboy, but when I first met [Hellboy creator] Mike Mignola, we looked at each other suspiciously across the table, and we said, 'There's only one actor who can play Hellboy.' I said, 'I don't want to give up on the idea,' and Mike said, 'Neither do I.' We said, 'Let's say it together.' And it was, 'One, two, three, Ron Perlman.' So I think Ron is the guy. I'd rather not do the movie than do it wrong."
Hooper Reveals Cryptic New Film
irector Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist) told SCI FI Wire that he is writing the script for a metaphysical thriller film, but would not reveal the title or any plot elements.
"I can't tell you, because ... telling ... is exposing it right now, and I need about a few months," Hooper said in an interview. "I'll tell you this much. As we experience reality, it may not be reality. It could be an echo of something that's already happened."
The film will be independently financed through Hooper's personal connections and then distributed by a studio once it is finished.
The ambiguity of reality is a subject dealt with in films like The Matrix, Dark City and Total Recall, but Hooper explained the difference between those films and his. "Those films are grand in scope," he said. "This is much more cerebral, and that isn't the true point of the film. What I mean is that it is involved in this machine that I'm working on."
Hooper's film will star Amanda Plummer. She told SCI FI Wire that, although she could not discuss her character, she was excited to be working with Hooper. "When I saw Texas Chainsaw [Massacre], I was around 20, and it just blew my mind," Plummer said. "I'm just thanking my stars that I even got to meet him at some point in my life. Just to be working with him through the process and to actually be directed by him is a big thrill."
Dragonfly Upends Omen
avid Seltzer, one of the writers of the upcoming supernatural thriller film Dragonfly, told SCI FI Wire that the script is the flip side of one of his earlier paranormal dramas. "I wrote The Omen a number of years ago," Seltzer said in an interview.
"And I sort of saw this as the other side of The Omen. It's about somebody beginning to believe the impossible. That there exists something on the other side. But instead of winding up in hell, this winds up with something ... very much more positive."
Seltzer rewrote the original script by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson, about a doctor (Kevin Costner) who begins to think he's receiving messages from his dead wife. "It is about a man beginning to believe that he is getting messages from somewhere on the other side, from the afterlife," Seltzer said. "So in that sense, it is a ghost story. More particularly, it's about how a very cynical, practical man evolves into a believer in something beyond this life. It's not religious. It's not inspirational. It's sort of a mystical thriller in a way." Dragonfly opens Feb. 22.
Trejo Hypes Spy Kids 2
anny Trejo, who reprises the character of Uncle Machete in the upcoming sequel movie Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, told SCI FI Wire that some of the gadgets in the film were actually created by real kids.
"They had a couple of contests in Texas, where kids would invent different gadgets with names like transponders and all these different little things," Trejo said in an interview. "They actually had a couple of the kids in the movie that won for some of the gadgets."
Trejo said that Spy Kids 2 will deal with many of the same family issues as the first movie, because kids are smart enough to appreciate the exploration of such themes. "Kids are a lot smarter than we think," Trejo said. "Now with computers and the Net, kids can absolutely have any information they want." Trejo also hyped the summer sequel. "I have to tell you that Uncle Machete is going to go where no spy has ever been," Trejo bragged. "Spy Kids 2 is amazing. It's one of the most amazing movies. You can't even classify it a kid's movie, because it is so interesting. You start watching a little piece of it, and you just want to see more. It's going to be a fantastic E-ticket journey." Spy Kids 2 is slated for an August release.
Loken Cast As T-X In T3
nknown actress Kristanna Loken has nabbed the coveted female lead role in the upcoming sequel movie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Loken—who makes her feature-film debut in the sequel—beat out apparent contenders that included former pro wrestler Chyna.
Loken will play T-X, the female cyborg who goes after Arnold Schwarzenegger's character from the previous two films, according to the trade paper. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, T3 will begin shooting April 15 in Los Angeles. Loken was recently on the short-lived Dick Wolf TV series D.C. for The WB and plays a recurring character on the ABC series Philly.
T3 Is Back In L.A.
erminator 3: Rise of the Machines will shoot entirely in Los Angeles, not Vancouver, as previously planned, Variety reported.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger sequel, which is in preproduction, had been originally slated to shoot about 60 percent of its 100 days of principal photography in the Canadian city. But director Jonathan Mostow reportedly balked at the idea of shuttling between L.A. and Vancouver.
T3 will now shoot interiors at L.A. Center Studios and exteriors in various locations throughout the city. T3 is set for release in summer 2003. The film is reportedly budgeted at between $165 million and $180 million, with Schwarzenegger's fee accounting for $30 million, Variety reported.
Producers Game For Tekken
rystal Sky has bought the film rights to the video game Tekken, in association with Japan's Gaga Communications and the game's maker, Namco, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Crystal Sky is eyeing a $60 million film based on the game, the trade paper reported.
Tekken is a popular fighting-style game played on arcade machines, next-generation platforms and PCs. To date, it has sold more than 18 million units worldwide, the trade paper reported.
Under the deal, Crystal Sky will co-develop and co-finance the film with Gaga, which also gets Japanese distribution rights. Much of the CGI effects needed for the feature will be done by Creative Visual Effects, the trade paper reported.
Zemeckis Boards Polar Express
obert Zemeckis is developing and will produce the fantasy movie Polar Express for Castle Rock Entertainment and Warner Brothers, with an eye to direct with his Cast Away star, Tom Hanks, Variety reported.
Cast Away writer William Broyles has already written a treatment and is working with Zemeckis on a script, the trade paper reported.
Based on Chris Van Allsburg's children's book of the same title, Polar Express is expected to be a big-budget, effects-driven movie.
Artisan Readies Coincidence
rtisan Pictures has optioned author David Ambrose's paranormal novel Coincidence for a film to star Billy Bob Thornton, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The proposed film tells the story of a writer who experiences a series of unlikely coincidences that lead to dramatic and potentially fatal results.
No screenwriter is attached to adapt yet. Bruce Heller will likely executive produce the project.
Metropolis Heads For Home
samu Tezuka's anime film Metropolis is being released as a special-edition two-disc DVD set and on VHS on April 23, Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment announced.
The set will include the first-ever "pocket DVD" of added features.
The film, in its third week of theatrical release, is based on the manga by Tezuka and was written by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and directed by Rintaro (X, Galaxy Express 999).
The home-video releases will feature newly subtitled versions of the film, along with a dubbed version on the DVD.
Dragonfly Stars Want To Believe
evin Costner, who plays a doctor wracked by the loss of his wife in the upcoming supernatural film Dragonfly, told SCI FI Wire that he had to believe in the unexplained as part of his performance.
"You can't be caught winking at it, because [my character], Joe, has to believe in everything that's going down," Costner said in an interview. "He's the one taking you through the story. So I did [believe]."
To prepare for the role, Costner said that he consulted friends who had had paranormal experiences, and they convinced him of their validity. "They haven't happened to me, but I do believe them to be real," Costner said. "Too many people that I trust have had real experiences, and I believe them. I'm not a cynic."
Susanna Thompson plays Joe's wife, who dies and appears to contact him from the afterlife. Thompson said in an interview that she felt there was no ambiguity to supernatural events in real life, so she did not feel the need for skepticism in the film. "What ambiguity?" she said. "I can't play some people's ambiguity. I can only play the willingness to believe in what I'm doing, projecting and creating."
Thompson also described the special-effects process for her appearance. "We had me up on a crane at one point and had me floating, the hair going out to create sort of an underwater feel." Dragonfly opens Feb. 22.
Rifkin Reveals Alias Twists
on Rifkin, who plays the nefarious Sloane on ABC's hit spy series Alias, told SCI FI Wire that he is contracted for the entire run of the series, whether or not his character ever discovers that the Bristows are double agents for the CIA.
Rifkin only gets new scripts the week before he films, but he said in an interview that he was confident the writers would give his character, the leader of SD-6, plenty of interesting storylines.
"There are so many twists and curves on this show, so many surprises," Rifkin said. "Maybe Sloane is a double agent. Maybe you're going to find out in four or five years that I'm also CIA. Wouldn't that be interesting?" In the most recent episode, Sloane lost his finger. But Rifkin assured viewers that the finger would return to Alias. "They're sewing it back on. By the next episode, I will have my cast off." Alias, starring Jennifer Garner, airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Aurealis Ceremony Set
rganizers have announced that the annual Aurealis Awards ceremony will take place in Melbourne, Australia, on March 22.
The awards, recognizing achievement by Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers in the year 2001, will begin at 6 p.m. local time at RMIT University's basement lecture theater in Building 94.
Aurealis magazine, which sponsors the awards, earlier announced its short list of nominees.
Shadyac Scares Up Dragonfly
irector Tom Shadyac told SCI FI Wire that his new film, Dragonfly, takes on the issue of life after death and comes down firmly on the side of the supernatural.
"It allows for the possibility and actually takes a stronger point of view and says that there is something that goes on—that when we die, we go somewhere," Shadyac said in an interview. "That energy goes somewhere."
In the film, Kevin Costner plays a doctor who believes his late wife is trying to contact him from the afterlife. Shadyac said he had not seen the similarly themed Waking the Dead. But the director—who is better known for broad comedies such as Ace Ventura, Liar Liar and The Nutty Professor—said his experience on those films applied to thrillers as well.
"It's all set-up, punch, but without the punch," Shadyac said. "For a scary moment, you're not cutting to the banana peel. You're cutting to something like a shadow going by. It's creating tension and breaking the tension." Dragonfly opens Feb. 22.
Brosnan Injured On Bond 20
ierce Brosnan injured his knee while shooting the upcoming 20th James Bond movie, the Reuters news service reported.
Brosnan, who reprises the role of 007 in the film, sustained the unspecified knee injury while shooting an action sequence involving water on Feb. 15, the news service reported.
EON Productions told Reuters that Brosnan would be sidelined for two weeks, but added that the film will still hit theaters in November as planned.
The official Bond Web site, meanwhile, has posted images and a description of the film's opening sequence, a hovercraft scene set in North Korea.
Xena Actor Smith Dies
ew Zealand actor Kevin Smith, best known for his role as Ares in Xena: Warrior Princess, died from jnjuries sustained in a fall on Feb. 6 in Beijing, the New Zealand Herald reported.
He was 38.
Smith, who also worked on the SCI FI Channel's upcoming original television film Riverworld, was injured the day after he finished work on Warriors of Virtue II, a joint U.S.-Chinese film production, the newspaper reported. Smith was headed to a movie boot camp to prepare for a big role in Man of War, a Hollywood film starring Bruce Willis. Acting sources told the Herald that Smith was injured when he fell from a great height, possibly six stories. The actor was then taken to a hospital, where he was placed on life support before succumbing to his injuries, the newspaper reported.
Smith's wife, Suzanne, and his parents, Geoff and Yvonne, were reportedly at his side at the time of his death. In addition to his wife, Smith leaves his three children, Oscar, 11, Tyrone, 9, and Willard, 3, the newspaper reported.
More Disney Toons Coming
isney is developing an entire slate of animated sequel films, including The Jungle Book II and Piglet's Big Movie, for theatrical release next year, Variety reported.
Like the current theatrical release Return to Neverland, the sequels are being produced by Walt Disney Television Animation.
The division has more than a dozen animated movie projects for theatrical and video release in various stages of development, almost all of them sequels or spinoffs of animated movies and characters created from scratch by the studio's film division, the trade paper reported. They include Dumbo II, 101 Dalmatians the Animated Sequel, Tarzan II, The Lion King III, Mulan II and Mulan III.
Disney is also developing a TV series to be followed by a video premiere movie sequel in 2004 based on Disney's upcoming summer animated theatrical feature Lilo and Stitch.
Buffy Fans Raise $20,000
ore than 500 fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel gathered in Los Angeles Feb. 16 in an annual party and fund-raiser that netted $20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of greater Los Angeles.
Partygoers included cast and crew of both UPN's Buffy and The WB's Angel, including creator Joss Whedon. "Thanks for inviting us—it makes us feel included, and that's very beautiful," Whedon told the cheering crowd at the American Legion Hall in Hollywood. "You guys raised a sh-tload of money here. You should be really proud of yourselves. All we do is come here and be adored, which we love. You guys put it together, you guys come here and make the contribution. You make the effort. You do something that means something, which means that our fans are cooler than other people's fans." Guests included Buffy executive producer Marti Noxon and cast members Alyson Hannigan, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Benson, Danny Strong, Adam Busch and Tom Lenk and Angel cast members J. August Richards, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker and Andy Hallett.
The fifth annual Posting Board Party raised money through ticket sales, donations, an auction of one-of-a-kind collectible items and corporate sponsorships from Brentano's Books, Score Entertainment, CityofAngel.com, Commercial Loan Corporation, Dark Horse Comics and Moore Action Figures. Among the big-ticket items sold in the silent auction were a wooden stake made by prop shop History for Hire, signed by Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar, that drew a winning $2,500 bid, and sheet music of the Angel theme song by the Los Angeles rock band Darling Violetta, with a guitar signed by DV guitarist Jymm Thomas, which went for $500.
The PBP is organized by denizens of the Web-based Bronze posting board on the official UPN Buffy site and its counterparts on fan-based Web sites, including the Bronze Beta. The party included performances by Busch's band Common Rotation and L.A. rock band Four Star Mary.
Fox Develops Silver Strike
ox 2000 will develop Silver Strike, a werewolf thriller film based on a spec script by J. Barton Mitchell, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mark Gordon will produce with Trevor Albert, sources told the trade paper.
The film is described as Black Hawk Down with werewolves, about a troop of werewolf hunters, the trade paper reported. Mitchell, who writes user guides for IBM by day, is a screenwriter by night who previously wrote Time Shift, which sold to Warner Brothers in November.
Briefly Noted
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The March 20 episode of ABC's family sitcom My Wife and Kids will feature references and homages to Steven Spielberg's classic film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and airs two days before the film's 20th-anniversary theatrical re-release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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RAI Trade, the international sales arm of Italy's public broadcaster, is shopping its film update of the classic Dracula story at this week's American Film Market, Variety reported. The movie, starring Patrick Bergin and directed by Emmy winner Roger Young, is available as a complete film and a two-part television miniseries.
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Effects house Digital Domain (Titanic) has reached a deal with Shrek writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio to develop the supernatural thriller film Shadowplay, about a young man's relationship with his shadow, Variety reported. First-time writer Shawn Riopelle will pen the script, based on an idea by Elliott and Rossio.
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Jonathan Frakes, who is set to reprise the role of Cmdr. Riker in the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis film, told Cinescape Online that he doubts a decision has been made that the 10th Trek film will be the last Next Generation movie. "I suspect that's going to be determined by money, don't you think? If this one does well, why would they stop?"
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The late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and his widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, were named recipients of the Space Foundation's Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award, to be presented April 8, for their support of space exploration, the official Trek Web site reported.
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Star Trek star William Shatner has revamped his official Web site to add new interactive content, the official Star Trek Web site reported.
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Maverick Films and Morton/Hymes Films have sold Scott Donnelly and Joe Douglass' fantasy pitch Bear Force to Splendid Pictures, Variety reported. The proposed movie tells the story of a young boy who fights the bogeyman and other evil denizens of the night with an elite force of teddy bears.
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The WB has signed Shemar Moore for the cast of its upcoming Birds of Prey series, based on the DC Comics series of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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David Conrad is set to star as Dr. Doug Phillips in Fox's updated version of the 1960s SF series The Time Tunnel, from Regency TV and 20th Century TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Time Tunnel was written by Rand Ravich, who will executive produce with Todd Holland, Kevin Burns, Jon Jashni and Andrew Lazar.
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Billboard's Web site has posted a track listing of songs and music on the soundtrack of the upcoming sequel movie Blade II. The soundtrack will feature music by Gorillaz, Mystikal and Moby, the Roots and BT and Bubba Sparxxx and the Crystal Method.
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The Zap2it Web site confirmed that Star Trek star James Doohan is recovering from pneumonia. Doohan, who turns 82 in March, was hospitalized about three weeks ago in Seattle, where he lives, the actor's publicist told the site. Doohan is now recovering and is expected to return home soon.
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The Empire Online Web site has posted video of an upcoming electronic toy version of Star Wars' R2-D2, which debuted at this year's toy fair in New York.
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Variety confirmed rumors that Jon Favreau is in talks to play Foggy Nelson in the upcoming Daredevil movie. The actor would join Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan and Colin Farrell in the movie. The UpcomingMovies Web site, meanwhile, reported that a new Jan. 17, 2003, release date has been set.
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Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson told a correspondent for the OneRing.net Web site that the 3 1/2-minute trailer for the second Rings film, The Two Towers, will appear in mid-March, attached to prints of The Fellowship of the Ring.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported a rumor that New Line is mulling Austin Powers: Licence to Shag as the new title for the third installment in the franchise, to replace Goldmember, which the studio dropped after MGM protested.
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Josh Lucas will reteam with his A Beautiful Mind co-star Jennifer Connelly in Ang Lee's upcoming movie version of the Marvel Comics series The Incredible Hulk, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lucas will play Talbott, a friend of Connelly's Betty and rival to Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana).
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The Trekker Newsletter reported a rumor that Star Trek actor James Doohan has been hospitalized with a collapsed lung and pneumonia. The site offered no further information on the report.
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Convention-goers may now book hotel rooms for the upcoming ConJose, the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention, on the official Web site. The convention takes place Aug. 29-Sept. 2 in San Jose, Calif.
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Bill George, an effects supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic, told Cinescape Online that the changes in the upcoming 20th-anniversary theatrical re-release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial won't be as dramatic as rumored. "All of [the changes] were pretty subtle," George told the site. "I think there's some bad rumors out there that they've changed the film substantially."
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Alan Tudyk (A Knight's Tale) has signed onto Firefly, the upcoming Fox SF series from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, Variety reported. Tudyk will play Wash, a mercenary member of the ship's crew.
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